Other TonePrints by Dann Huff

About

TC: Who inspired you over the years when you were creating your own personal guitar tone?

Dann: When I was 14 years old I wanted to be Larry Carlton or Al Di Meola- both of which I never became. No rock music – AT ALL – no country, but a lot of R’n’B. I totally missed Jimmy Page the first time around, and I had no interest in Hendrix, I discovered him later. I know it’s terrible, it’s like guitar heresy. I felt that Carlton was more interesting harmonically. His vibrato was/is beautiful, and he is a great player, but I was more interested in that harmonic value and the control. At that time I wasn’t interested in the flash or the rebellion. I was a happy kid, there was no need for the whole rock idiom and it didn’t inspire me from a point of identity

TC: What are the main ingredients in your tone in terms of effects (e.g. chorus, flanger, delay, etc.)?

Dann: Well, it’s mostly delay, distortion, and reverb, those are the main ingredients for me. Maybe because I came from the 80's where I did all my session playing, I used up all the chorus that was actually manufactured (laughs). I like the chorusing effect if it is really minimal, and I do like modulation, but I do it from a delay standpoint.

TC: Have you ever been so inspired by a tone you created that you ended up writing a tune based on that specific tone?

Dann: I don’t write much these days, but the answer is – yes.

TC: Do you work on developing your tone continuously, or do you feel that you have found a fundamental tone that will last throughout your career?

Dann: Now that I spend 95% of my time producing it’s an immediate necessity. I don’t hire out as a guitarist much these days, but I work with a lot of guitar players. The pressure to be able to facilitate tone very quickly, and certainly when I’m plugging and playing it, has to be there pretty immediately because I don’t have the time to sit there and dig with my gear.

TC: Normally, do you prefer having access to many parameters, or do you like simple pedals with just a few knobs better?

Dann: These pedals appeal to me. I love in-the-box stuff and I love to have options, but when it comes to pedals I tend to shy away from pedals with gazillions of knob. Simplicity certainly appeals to me in the context of a pedal board.

TC: How come you signed up for creating your own personal TonePrint(s)?

Dann: Curiosity. I love the fact that you dial in the parameters and stamp them into one pedal that you like, and it appeals to me that as you change and evolve the pedal can change and evolve with you.

TC: In your opinion, what is the single coolest thing about TonePrints?

Dann: The coolest thing is that it’s the coolest thing. Once you get an idea of the faceprint of it, it looks very simple overall, even for a computer savage as me. I like this format, it's more conducive to the mentality of a guitar player than that of a keyboard programmer, and that’s where pedal companies sometime get off the mark, or get too boutique-ish. It looks like we can grow with this thing. Once you have this pedal you have your delay pedal, you have Joe Perry’s delay pedal, you have everybody’s delay pedal. It never gets old.